hot time in the old Town
After work this morning Gay and I went to an afternoon matinee of The Town, the crime drama set in next-door Charlestown. The local color was fun - the first heist is a bank in Harvard Square, which automatically makes the story a fantasy - try to find a parking space, let alone drive a fast getaway car, anywhere near that bank.
A lot of it was good. Ben Affleck starred and directed, doing a good job with both, but the interesting writing and acting was really around a “buddy” character, crazy-ass Jeremy Renner. The Girl, played by Keesey Rebecca Hall, was also good. Most of the bit actors were spot on. (But I couldn’t shake Jon Hamm’s Mad Ave persona.)
Maybe people worked too hard on their local accents. I’ve lived around here for decades and needed subtitles.
There were two big suspension of disbelief problems, which I think I can discuss without giving anything away. One was that the bank jobs these street-wise toughs constructed were so complex they had to be written in C. The other was that two gun battles involving automatic weapons threw so many tons of lead around that there wouldn’t be anyone left alive in the 617 area code. I mean, really.
I guess both of those problems fit within the “constraints” of the genre. But I do know from personal experience that one bullet can make a hell of a noise and put you down for months or -ever. Maybe a movie that was realistic in that regard would be a big snooze for today’s audiences.
Joe
A lot of it was good. Ben Affleck starred and directed, doing a good job with both, but the interesting writing and acting was really around a “buddy” character, crazy-ass Jeremy Renner. The Girl, played by Keesey Rebecca Hall, was also good. Most of the bit actors were spot on. (But I couldn’t shake Jon Hamm’s Mad Ave persona.)
Maybe people worked too hard on their local accents. I’ve lived around here for decades and needed subtitles.
There were two big suspension of disbelief problems, which I think I can discuss without giving anything away. One was that the bank jobs these street-wise toughs constructed were so complex they had to be written in C. The other was that two gun battles involving automatic weapons threw so many tons of lead around that there wouldn’t be anyone left alive in the 617 area code. I mean, really.
I guess both of those problems fit within the “constraints” of the genre. But I do know from personal experience that one bullet can make a hell of a noise and put you down for months or -ever. Maybe a movie that was realistic in that regard would be a big snooze for today’s audiences.
Joe